1965 - U.S. Sends Troops to Vietnam 1965 - U.S. Sends Troops to Vietnam 20th Century History Expert By Jennifer Rosenberg U.S. Sends Troops to Vietnam (1965): In response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident of August 2 and 4, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson , per the authority given to him by Congress in the subsequent Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, decided to escalate the Vietnam Conflict by sending U.S. ground troops to Vietnam. On March 8, 1965, 3,500 U.S. Marines landed near Da Nang in South Vietnam; they are the first U.S. troops arrive in Vietnam. On the beach where US troops landed 50 years ago, a new Vietnam flourishes | World news | The Guardian Dispatch On the beach where US troops landed 50 years ago, a new Vietnam flourishes This week’s anniversary will pass quietly in a rejuvenated nation where the young are more interested in tech and social media than memories of the past View from the rooftop of Hotel A La Carte on the My Khe beach of Da Nang.

Photograph: Thomas Uhlemann/ Thomas Uhlemann/dpa/Corbis Saturday 28 February 2015 17.40 EST Last modified on Monday 20 April 2015 11.57 EDT Close This article is 1 year old A solitary fisherman crouches in the surf, his eyes skimming the surface for signs of movement in the shallows. A conical hat protects him from the afternoon sun. He is alone on the beach, which lies 14km north of the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang. Behind him, flies swarm around rubbish strewn across the sand. To a passerby it wouldn’t occur that anything of significance had ever happened here. It was on this unremarkable stretch of Nam O Beach where, at 9.03am on 8 March 1965, 3,500 US marines disembarked from their landing crafts and waded on to Vietnam’s shores, becoming the first American ground troops to arrive in the country. At the time, the US-backed government in South Vietnam was suffering from power struggles among its leadership and troops were deserting its army.

Communist forces from North Vietnam were taking advantage, advancing down the Ho Chi Minh trail and gaining control in the countryside. Viet Cong guerrillas had attacked a US compound in the Central Highlands in February. Now, they were approaching Da Nang. General William Westmoreland requested two battalions of US marines to provide support, and at this crucial turning point, President Lyndon B Johnson agreed. The landing was carefully stage managed. The troops were given a warm welcome by a delegation of smiling children and traditionally dressed Vietnamese women brandishing garlands of flowers. A sign held aloft read: “Welcome, Gallant Marines.” It was an incongruous beginning for the marines, and their mission – to defend the city’s air base during the Operation Rolling Thunder bombing campaign against targets in the North – seemed straightforward. Nobody on the beach that day had any idea of the long and tortuous conflict that was to follow. By the end of the year, nearly 185,000 troops had been deployed as the war escalated. A decade later when Saigon fell and US soldiers made their final exit, 2.7m Americans had served in Vietnam – more than 58,000 were killed.

Finding Vietnam's war children – in pictures Read more Vietnam was left in ruins. Ho Chi Minh had warned the US “you will kill 10 of our men, and we will kill one of yours, and in the end it will be you who tire of it,” and in the end, he was proved right. Vietnam was reunified, but at enormous cost. An estimated 3 million Vietnamese were killed, including 2 million civilians. Hundreds of thousands were seriously injured and disabled. Farmland was contaminated by exposure to 43m litres of Agent Orange. The countryside had been littered with 14m tonnes of ordnance, a significant proportion of it unexploded. Millions of people had been displaced. Famine and disease were rife. Back in the west, a succession of war films has ensured that 50 years on in America, Vietnam is still synonymous with war. But the Vietnam of today is a vastly different place. In the last two decades, Vietnam has transformed from one of Asia’s poorest countries to one of its fastest developing.

The decision of the Communist government to implement wide-ranging economic reforms, known as “Doi Moi” (renovation) in 1986 opened up its new “socialist-oriented market economy” to the world. The subsequent economic growth has led to rapid improvements in living standards and sharp declines in poverty. More than 7.8 million international visitors came to Vietnam last year for business and tourism. Culturally, much has changed too. Visiting Americans may be surprised to see McDonald’s, Starbucks and KFC. Cinemas show many of the latest Hollywood releases; urban malls sell Levi’s jeans and Converse shoes; iPads are everywhere. In many respects, Da Nang represents the nation’s astonishing development in microcosm. Today, it is a modern and well-run metropolis of high-rise buildings, sweeping tree-lined boulevards and dramatic river bridges. Under the visionary leadership of Nguyen Ba Thanh – the city’s populist former leader, whose death last month sparked an outpouring of public grief – the shacks and tin huts of old have been replaced by stylish office blocks, motorbike showrooms, mega malls and trendy cafes.

The spotless sands of “China Beach”, once a popular R&R spot for US soldiers, are now dominated by a long line of lavish luxury hotels and five-star golf courses. The air base fought over so fiercely is now a modern international airport, connecting Da Nang with the world. Chuck Palazzo is an American war veteran who was stationed in Da Nang in 1970-72. He returned to the city in 2008 and has lived here ever since as a member of Veterans for Peace campaigning on behalf of victims of Agent Orange and unexploded ordnance. “Coming back here was very much a culture shock,” he says. “To see how the people have risen up from the ashes, literally, is just incredible. The young people especially are very much looking forward. They’re interested in technology, social media, banking, economics, participating in the word community. It’s good to see.” These days, the horrors of war are rarely discussed. While Reunification Day is celebrated as a national holiday, and the anniversaries of Ho Chi Minh’s birthday and the Communist party’s formation are also marked, other milestones pass quietly.

There will be no public reflection on the 50th anniversary of the Nam O Beach landing. “People do not really talk about it [the war] in detail, especially the American side of things,” explains Nguyen Quang Nam, a motorbike tour guide whose company employs some former South Vietnamese soldiers to drive tourists around the country. Even in Da Nang’s military museum, there is little in the way of detailed information on the battles here. Instead, large groups of schoolchildren are taken on daily tours around a dramatic collection of seized American tanks, fighter jets and helicopters, marvelling at these trophies of war while listening to a military guide performing a narrative of the heroic victory. Despite this lack of openness, the war has influenced the young generation in many subtle ways, argues Jonathan London, a professor of Asian and international studies at the City University of Hong Kong: “It does play a significant role in their lives, particularly in places like Da Nang where the fighting and its destructive impacts were widely and severely felt. It was experienced not only as an international war involving a global superpower but also a civil war that divided communities and even families. A lot of that history is subdued.

But it’s there.” On the surface though, there is a sense that the Vietnamese people have moved on with their lives. At a downtown Da Nang bar, a group of colleagues from a state-run telecommunications company meet for a drink after work. “We have no problem with Americans,” says Tran Ngoc Hao. “Things are very open now. People in Vietnam are thinking more about the future rather than the past.” Palazzo was struck by this attitude of tolerance when he first returned to Vietnam. “When I arrived at Hanoi airport I was paranoid as hell that the immigration folks had my name in some database labelling me as a marine. I was sweating as I went up to the desk. But the guy just looked at my passport and with a big smile on his face said, ‘Come on in, you’re welcome here.’ It has been that way for me ever since. I have never once experienced any animosity.” Political ties have also evolved greatly in the years since the Vietnam-US relationship was normalised under the Clinton presidency in 1995. Two-way trade reached $36.3bn last year.

Now the two countries are negotiating the terms of the Trans Pacific Partnership, and the US increasingly sees Vietnam as a key partner in its “pivot to Asia”. “No matter how you look at it, Vietnam and America have developed a special relationship,” says London. “I think leaders in both countries are keen to make relations special for all the right reasons.” Palazzo hopes that in time his countrymen will change their perspective about Vietnam. “The Vietnamese are not the folks as the American media portrayed them [for 10 years during the war]. “They’re human beings, and my hope is that someday the Americans view Vietnam as they do today Japan and the European countries who we were at war with. It’d be good if more came here to see for themselves.” Hoa and his colleagues are ready to welcome them with open arms. “Of course, we want to be friends with all people,” he declares passionately. “We will give everything now to develop our country in the future.” Lifting his beer bottle for a toast, he proudly exclaims: “To peace! To progress! To Vietnam!” Back on Nam O, the lone fisherman stands up and gathers his equipment. A small fishing boat sails past a little offshore, a Vietnamese flag unfurled proudly in the breeze.

Serenely, he waves a hand in acknowledgement, and turns to head towards home along the empty beach. This article was amended on 27 March 2015 to correct the total number of US troops who served in the Vietnam war. The Vietnam War, Part I: Early Years and Escalation - The Atlantic The Atlantic 46 Photos In Focus Fifty years ago, in March 1965, 3,500 U.S. Marines landed in South Vietnam. They were the first American combat troops on the ground in a conflict that had been building for decades. The communist government of North Vietnam (backed by the Soviet Union and China) was locked in a battle with South Vietnam (supported by the United States) in a Cold War proxy fight. The U.S. had been providing aid and advisors to the South since the 1950s, slowly escalating operations to include bombing runs and ground troops. By 1968, more than 500,000 U.S. troops were in the country, fighting alongside South Vietnamese soldiers as they faced both a conventional army and a guerrilla force in unforgiving terrain.

Each side suffered and inflicted huge losses, with the civilian populace suffering horribly. Based on widely varying estimates, between 1.5 and 3.6 million people were killed in the war. This photo essay, part one of a three-part series, looks at the earlier stages of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, as well as the growing protest movement, between the years 1962 and 1967. Be sure to also see part 2 and part 3 . Warning: Several of these photographs are graphic in nature. Vietnam War History - Vietnam War - HISTORY.com Vietnam War History A+E Networks Introduction The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The war began in 1954 (though conflict in the region stretched back to the mid-1940s), after the rise to power of Ho Chi Minh and his communist Viet Minh party in North Vietnam, and continued against the backdrop of an intense Cold War between two global superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union.

More than 3 million people (including 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War; more than half were Vietnamese civilians. By 1969, at the peak of U.S. involvement in the war, more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were involved in the Vietnam conflict. Growing opposition to the war in the United States led to bitter divisions among Americans, both before and after President Richard Nixon ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973. In 1975, communist forces seized control of Saigon, ending the Vietnam War, and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year. Google Roots of the Vietnam War During World War II , Japan invaded and occupied Vietnam, a nation on the eastern edge of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia that had been under French administration since the late 19th century. Inspired by Chinese and Soviet communism, Ho Chi Minh formed the Viet Minh, or the League for the Independence of Vietnam, to fight both Japan and the French colonial administration. Japan withdrew its forces in 1945, leaving the French-educated Emperor Bao Dai in control of an independent Vietnam.

Ho’s Viet Minh forces rose up immediately, seizing the northern city of Hanoi and declaring a Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) with Ho as president. Did You Know? According to a survey by the Veterans Administration, some 500,000 of the 3 million troops who served in Vietnam suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, and rates of divorce, suicide, alcoholism and drug addiction were markedly higher among veterans. Seeking to regain control of the region, France backed Bao and set up the state of Vietnam (South Vietnam) in July 1949, with Saigon as its capital. Armed conflict continued until a decisive battle at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954 ended in French defeat by Viet Minh forces. The subsequent treaty negotiations at Geneva split Vietnam along the latitude known as the 17th parallel (with Ho in control in the North and Bao in the South) and called for nationwide elections for reunification to be held in 1956. In 1955, however, the strongly anti-communist Ngo Dinh Diem pushed Bao aside to become president of the Government of the Republic of Vietnam (GVN). Vietnam War: U.S.

Intervention Begins With the Cold War intensifying, the United States hardened its policies against any allies of the Soviet Union, and by 1955 President Dwight D. Eisenhower had pledged his firm support to Diem and South Vietnam. With training and equipment from American military and police, Diem’s security forces cracked down on Viet Minh sympathizers in the south, whom he derisively called Viet Cong (or Vietnamese Communist), arresting some 100,000 people, many of whom were tortured and executed. By 1957, the Viet Cong and other opponents of Diem’s repressive regime began fighting back with attacks on government officials and other targets, and by 1959 they had begun engaging South Vietnamese Army forces in firefights. In December 1960, Diem’s opponents within South Vietnam–both communist and non-communist–formed the National Liberation Front (NLF) to organize resistance to the regime. Though the NLF claimed to be autonomous and that most of its members were non-Communist, many in Washington assumed it was a puppet of Hanoi. A team sent by President John F.

Kennedy in 1961 to report on conditions in South Vietnam advised a build-up of American military, economic and technical aid in order to help confront the Viet Cong threat. Working under the “domino theory,” which held that if one Southeast Asian country fell to communism, many would follow, Kennedy increased U.S. aid, though he stopped short of committing to a large-scale military intervention. By 1962, the U.S. military presence in South Vietnam had reached some 9,000 troops, compared with fewer than 800 during the 1950s. Vietnam War Escalates A coup by some of his own generals succeeded in toppling and killing Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, in November 1963, three weeks before Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas . The ensuing political instability in South Vietnam persuaded Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson , and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to further increase U.S. military and economic support. The following August, after DRV torpedo boats attacked two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin, Johnson ordered the retaliatory bombing of military targets in North Vietnam.

Congress soon passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution , which gave Johnson broad war-making powers, and U.S. planes began regular bombing raids, codenamed Operation Rolling Thunder , the following February. In March 1965, Johnson made the decision–with solid support from the American public–to send U.S. combat forces into battle in Vietnam. By June, 82,000 combat troops were stationed in Vietnam, and General William Westmoreland was calling for 175,000 more by the end of 1965 to shore up the struggling South Vietnamese army. Despite the concerns of some of his advisers about this escalation, and about the entire war effort as well as a growing anti-war movement in the U.S., Johnson authorized the immediate dispatch of 100,000 troops at the end of July 1965 and another 100,000 in 1966. In addition to the United States, South Korea, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand also committed troops to fight in South Vietnam (albeit on a much smaller scale).

Strategy of Attrition in Vietnam In contrast to the air attacks on North Vietnam, the U.S.-South Vietnamese war effort in the south was fought on the ground, largely under the command of General Westmoreland, in coordination with the government of General Nguyen Van Thieu in Saigon. In general, U.S. military forces in the region pursued a policy of attrition, aiming to kill as many enemy troops as possible rather than trying to secure territory. By 1966, large areas of South Vietnam had been designated as “free-fire zones,” from which all innocent civilians were supposed to have evacuated and only enemy remained. Heavy bombing by B-52 aircraft or shelling made these zones uninhabitable, as refugees poured into camps in designated safe areas near Saigon and other cities. Even as the body count (at times exaggerated by U.S. and South Vietnamese authorities) mounted steadily, DRV and Viet Cong troops refused to stop fighting, encouraged by the fact that they could easily reoccupy lost territory. Meanwhile, supported by aid from China and the Soviet Union, North Vietnam strengthened its air defenses.

By November 1967, the number of American troops in Vietnam was approaching 500,000, and U.S. casualties had reached 15,058 killed and 109,527 wounded. As the war stretched on, some soldiers came to mistrust their government’s reasons for keeping them there, as well as Washington’s claims that the war was being won. The later years of the war saw increased physical and psychological deterioration among American soldiers, including drug use, mutinies and attacks by soldiers against officers and noncommissioned officers. Bombarded by horrific images of the war on their televisions, Americans on the home front turned against the war as well: In October 1967, some 35,000 demonstrators staged a mass antiwar protest outside the Pentagon . Opponents of the war argued that civilians, not enemy combatants, were the primary victims and that the United States was supporting a corrupt dictatorship in Saigon.

Impact of the Tet Offensive on Vietnam War By the end of 1967, Hanoi’s communist leadership was growing impatient as well, and sought to strike a decisive blow aimed at forcing the better-supplied United States to give up hopes of success. On January 31, 1968, some 70,000 DRV forces under General Vo Nguyen Giap launched the Tet offensive (named for the lunar new year), a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam. Though taken by surprise, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces managed to strike back quickly, and the communists were unable to hold any of the targets for more than a day or two. Reports of the attacks stunned the U.S. public, however, especially after news broke that Westmoreland had requested an additional 200,000 troops. With his approval ratings dropping in an election year, Johnson called a halt to bombing in much of North Vietnam in March (though bombings continued in the south) and promised to dedicate the rest of his term to seeking peace rather than reelection.

Johnson’s new tack, laid out in a March 1968 speech, met with a positive response from Hanoi, and peace talks between the U.S. and North Vietnam opened in Paris that May. Despite the later inclusion of the South Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front (the political arm of the Viet Cong) the dialogue soon reached an impasse, and after an election campaign marred by violence, Republican Richard M. Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey to win the White House. Vietnam War Ends: From Vietnamization to Withdrawal Nixon sought to deflate the antiwar movement by appealing to a “silent majority” of Americans who he believed supported the war effort. In an attempt to limit the volume of American casualties, he announced a program of withdrawing troops, increasing aerial and artillery bombardment and giving South Vietnamese control over ground operations. In addition to this policy, which he called “ Vietnamization ,” Nixon continued public peace talks in Paris, adding higher-level secret talks conducted by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger beginning in the spring of 1968. The North Vietnamese continued to insist on complete U.S.

withdrawal as a condition of peace, however, and the next few years would bring even more carnage, including the horrifying revelation that U.S. soldiers had massacred more than 400 unarmed civilians in the village of My Lai in March 1968. Anti-war protests continued to build as the conflict wore on. In 1968 and 1969, there were hundreds of anti-war marches and gatherings throughout the country. On November 15, 1969, the largest anti-war protest in American history took place in Washington, D.C. , as over 250,000 Americans gathered peacefully, calling for withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. The anti-war movement, which was particularly strong on college campuses, divided Americans bitterly. For some young people, the war symbolized a form of unchecked authority they had come to resent. For other Americans, opposing the government was considered unpatriotic and treasonous. As the first U.S. troops were withdrawn, those who remained became increasingly angry and frustrated, exacerbating problems with morale and leadership.

Tens of thousands of soldiers received dishonorable discharges for desertion, and about 500,000 American men from 1965-73 became “draft dodgers,” with many fleeing to Canada to evade conscription. Nixon ended draft calls in 1972, and instituted an all-volunteer army the following year. In 1970, a joint U.S-South Vietnamese operation invaded Cambodia, hoping to wipe out DRV supply bases there. The South Vietnamese then led their own invasion of Laos, which was pushed back by North Vietnam. The invasion of these countries, in violation of international law, sparked a new wave of protests on college campuses across America, including two at Kent State in Ohio and Jackson State in Mississippi during which National Guardsmen and police killed a total of six student protesters. By the end of June 1972, however, after another failed offensive into South Vietnam, Hanoi was finally willing to compromise. Kissinger and North Vietnamese representatives drafted a peace agreement by early fall, but leaders in Saigon rejected it, and in December Nixon authorized a number of bombing raids against targets in Hanoi and Haiphong.

Known as the Christmas Bombings, the raids drew international condemnation. Legacy of the Vietnam War In January 1973, the United States and North Korea concluded a final peace agreement, ending open hostilities between the two nations. War between North and South Vietnam continued, however, until April 30, 1975, when DRV forces captured Saigon, renaming it Ho Chi Minh City (Ho himself died in 1969). The long conflict had affected an immense majority of the country’s population; in eight years of warfare, an estimated 2 million Vietnamese died, while 3 million were wounded and another 12 million became refugees. War had decimated the country’s infrastructure and economy, and reconstruction proceeded slowly. In 1976, Vietnam was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, though sporadic violence continued over the next 15 years, including conflicts with neighboring China and Cambodia. Under a broad free market policy put in place in 1986, the economy began to improve, boosted by oil export revenues and an influx of foreign capital. Trade and diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the U.S. were resumed in the 1990s.

In the United States, the effects of the Vietnam War would linger long after the last troops returned home in 1973. The nation spent more than $120 billion on the conflict in Vietnam from 1965-73; this massive spending led to widespread inflation, exacerbated by a worldwide oil crisis in 1973 and skyrocketing fuel prices. Psychologically, the effects ran even deeper. The war had pierced the myth of American invincibility, and had bitterly divided the nation. Many returning veterans faced negative reactions from both opponents of the war (who viewed them as having killed innocent civilians) and its supporters (who saw them as having lost the war), along with physical damage including the effects of exposure to the harmful chemical herbicide Agent Orange , millions of gallons of which had been dumped by U.S. planes on the dense forests of Vietnam. In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was unveiled in Washington, D.C. On it were inscribed the names of 57,939 American armed forces killed or missing during the war; later additions brought that total to 58,200. Tags Why did the US commit ground troops to Vietnam in 1965?

– Thoughts of a 23 year old Liberal… A couple of people have asked me to post this, so here it is! (A small presentation I’m giving tomorrow!) ************************************************** Why did the US commit ground troops to Vietnam in 1965? The Vietnam War was a proxy war during the Cold War, which lasted almost 20 years. There were several, complicated, reasons why the US committed ground troops to Vietnam. I will briefly outline a handful of these, including; US spending during the First Indo-China War; the involvement of US “advisors”; the Gulf of Tonkin incident and of course the policy of Containment. The First Indo-China War, fought between the French colonialists and the Vietnamese liberation front. The Vietnamese people wanted independence from their French overlords after the end of the Second World War. Throughout the Second World War they had fought off the oppressive, invading forces of the Japanese, side by side with the Allied forces, primarily in the name of freedom and self-determination. The people of Vietnam unsurprisingly expected independence after World War II. Independence was spreading across the globe, but the French had other ideas.

Left decimated and facing the crippling reality of six years of Total Warfare the French could be expected to have allowed Vietnam to go it alone, but they wanted to assert their authority in the emerging Far-East. The War began in 1946 and lasted until 1954. The US originally remained neutral as because it opposed imperialism (a stance they had made clear to the UK) but began financing the French’s efforts through the Mutual Assistance Programme in 1949 (similar to the Marshall Plan). They supplied not only finance, but weaponry, fighter planes, and naval air-carriers. (By 1967 over $30bn had been given to nations through the MAP.) The Geneva Peace Convention in 1954 secured a temporary separation of Vietnam along the 17th parallel. Ho Chi Minh controlled 2/3rds of Vietnam at the time, but accepted this division along with the promise that free and open elections were held across the nation to reunite the country in 1956. At this point the US had already financed a long campaign against Communism, it seemed highly unlikely that they would spend so much money and then abandon their objectives.

When the election date came and went, supporters of the Communist Party in the South began an insurgency against President Diem. President Eisenhower had noted that had the Geneva Accords been held, “possibly 80 percent of the population would have voted for Communist Ho Chi Minh” and the government quickly became more repressive and unpopular, insurgency came as no real surprise to anybody. It has been commonly accepted that the original insurgency came from within the South and that Ho Chi Minh had no great role in the rebellion. But by 1959 this had changed, it was widely acknowledged that Ho Chi Minh had broken the Geneva Convention’s conditions and was funding the rebels in the South. Civil War had hit Vietnam! President JFK in his inauguration speech made the ambitious pledge to “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty” a comment primarily aimed at America’s Communist rivals. JFK sent 16,000 American “advisors” to South Vietnam, up dramatically from the 900 the Eisenhower had sent before him. The advisors’ role quickly became blurred when it became apparent that they were leading skirmishes against the Vietcong.

The US had become actively involved in Vietnam by 1963. In November 1963 JFK was assassinated and replaced by his VP Linden B. Johnson. LBJ’s focus was on his “Great Society” which aimed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. His knowledge of US foreign policy, especially in Vietnam was insignificant in comparison. Presidential aide Jack Valenti recalls, “Vietnam at the time was no bigger than a man’s fist on the horizon. We hardly discussed it because it was not worth discussing.” LBJ took a hard-line to Vietnam and there is no doubt that the introduction of LBJ to the Vietnamese War had a drastic effect. The Gulf of Tonkin incident was a pre-text for escalation for significant intervention by the US. In 2005, an internal National Security Agency historical study was declassified; it concluded that the Maddox had engaged the North Vietnamese Navy on August 2, but that there were no North Vietnamese Naval vessels present during the incident of August 4. The US public and Congress were sold the line that the US Navy was attacked by the North Vietnamese, when in reality the US launched the first attack, and the second incident was a salvage mission.

LBJ gave a speech dramatising Ho Chi Minh’s forces as the aggressor and declaring the US would continue its fight for the people of the South Johnson misled the American people to gain support for his foreign policy in Vietnam. The War escalated from this point and Army numbers peaked at over 500,000 by late 1968. Whilst the Gulf of Tonkin may have been the tipping point for a huge scale US involvement, the real reason had much deeper roots. The logical progression of the US’ policy of containment led them to Vietnam. The US was worried about the idea of the “Domino Effect”. Eisenhower put the theory into words in April 1954. “Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the “falling domino” principle. You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences.” The credibility of such a theory had been hotly debated, but regardless it was a highly influential idea that the US and allied governments bought into.

Despite such a monumental effort in Vietnam, the US were ultimately unsuccessful in their attempts to overthrow Ho Chi Minh, and in 1975, 19 years after the War began Vietnam was unified under the man the US had fought so hard to remove. ****************************************************************** Feedback is greatly encouraged and wanted!!! Timeline of the Vietnam War - History Learning Site Home » Vietnam War » Timeline of the Vietnam War Timeline of the Vietnam War Citation: C N Trueman "Timeline of the Vietnam War" historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 27 Mar 2015. 16 Aug 2016.

1862: Vietnam became part of the French Empire 1890: Ho Chi Minh was born 1930: Ho Chi Minh helped to form the Indo-Chinese Communist Party 1941: Vietminh formed to counter Japanese invasion of Vietnam 1945: Japan handed Vietnam to the Vietminh; Ho Chi Minh declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (September); French troops arrived back in Vietnam 1946: war broke out between the French and the Vietminh 1949: Communist China came into being allowing the Vietminh to train in China away from French attacks 1950: Truman refused to recognise the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Communist China + USSR did recognise Ho’s state 1954: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu – Giap defeated the French force based there; a ceasefire was agreed at Geneva that split Vietnam at the 17th Parallel; France withdrew her military from Vietnam; US promises aid worth $100 million to the anti-communist Diem 1955: The pro-American Ngo Dinh Diem became President of South Vietnam in October. America agreed to train Diem’s army.

1956: Diem started to arrest anyone suspected of being in the Vietminh 1957: the Vietminh started a campaign of guerrilla warfare in South Vietnam casualties; the Ho Chi Minh Trail was first used 1960: the National Liberation Front (NLF) was formed in Hanoi though in the South, they were known as the Vietcong (VC) 1961: US President Kennedy pledged extra aid to South Vietnam 1962: The number of US military advisors increased from 700 to 12,000 1963: President Diem was killed in a military coup 15,000 US military advisors were in South Vietnam 1964: the Gulf of Tonkin incident; Congress passed the ‘Gulf of Tonkin Resolution’; America bombs targets in North Vietnam; NLF attacked US air bases 1965: ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’ started; first US combat troops were sent to Vietnam in March; by the end of the year there were 200,000 US troops there; first major conventional clash between USA and NVA at Ia Drang 1966:

 400,000 US troops were in Vietnam 1967: 490,000 US troops in Vietnam; Nguyen Van Thieu became President of South Vietnam 1968: Tet Offensive ; demonstrations against the war started in America; My Lai massacre; peace talks began in Paris; 540,000 US troops in Vietnam; anti-Vietnam War riots in Chicago (August) 1969: Nixon ordered the secret bombing of Cambodia; ‘ Vietnamization ’ started; Nixon announced the start of US troop withdrawals; Ho Chi Minh died; 480,000 US troops in Vietnam; My Lai massacre made public in November 1970: Four student demonstrators shot dead at Kent State University ; 280,000 US troops in Vietnam; secret peace talks held in Paris; large scale anti-war demonstrations throughout USA 1971: 140,000 US troops in Vietnam; Lt.

William Calley convicted of murder at My Lai and jailed 1972: Haiphong harbour mined (May); “Peace is at hand” – Dr Kissinger 1973: ceasefire signed in Paris; last US troops left Vietnam; US POW’s released 1975: Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia; NLF captured Saigon Vietnam War 1962–75 | Australian War Memorial Publications Vietnam War 1962–75 EKN/67/0130/VN Iroquois helicopters land to take members of 7RAR back to Nui Dat after completion of Operation Ulmarra, August 1967. AWM EKN/67/0130/VN The arrival of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) in South Vietnam during July and August 1962 was the beginning of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War. Australia's participation in the war was formally declared at an end when the Governor-General issued a proclamation on 11 January 1973.

The only combat troops remaining in Vietnam were a platoon guarding the Australian embassy in Saigon, which was withdrawn in June 1973. The Australian commitment consisted predominantly of army personnel, but significant numbers of air force and navy personnel and some civilians also took part. On this page: Links to online sources and other material Overview From the time of the arrival of the first members of the Team in 1962 almost 60,000 Australians, including ground troops and air force and navy personnel, served in Vietnam; 521 died as a result of the war and over 3,000 were wounded. The war was the cause of the greatest social and political dissent in Australia since the conscription referendums of the First World War. Many draft resisters, conscientious objectors, and protesters were fined or jailed, while soldiers met a hostile reception on their return home. Australian support for South Vietnam in the early 1960s was in keeping with the policies of other nations, particularly the United States, to stem the spread of communism in Europe and Asia.

In 1961 and 1962 Ngo Dinh Diem, leader of the government in South Vietnam, repeatedly requested security assistance from the US and its allies. Australia eventually responded with 30 military advisers, dispatched as the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV), also known as "the Team". Their arrival in South Vietnam during July and August 1962 was the beginning of Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War. In August 1964 the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) also sent a flight of Caribou transports to the port of Vung Tau. By early 1965, when it had become clear that South Vietnam could not stave off the communist insurgents and their North Vietnamese comrades for more than a few months, the US commenced a major escalation of the war. By the end of the year it had committed 200,000 troops to the conflict. As part of the build-up, the US government requested further support from friendly countries in the region, including Australia.

The Australian government dispatched the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1RAR), in June 1965 to serve alongside the US 173d Airborne Brigade in Bien Hoa province. P01951.007 Vung Tau, Vietnam: door-gunner from No. 9 Squadron, RAAF, using twin-mounted M60 machine-guns. AWM P01951.007 The following year the Australian government felt that Australia's involvement in the conflict should be both strong and identifiable. In March 1966 the government announced the dispatch of a taskforce to replace 1RAR, consisting of two battalions and support services (including a RAAF squadron of Iroquois helicopters), to be based at Nui Dat, Phuoc Tuy province. Unlike 1RAR, the taskforce was assigned its own area of operations and included conscripts who had been called up under the National Service Scheme , introduced in 1964.

All nine RAR battalions served in the taskforce at one time or another, before it was withdrawn in 1971; at the height of the Australian involvement it numbered some 8,500 troops. A third RAAF squadron (of Canberra jet bombers) was also committed in 1967, and destroyers of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) joined US patrols off the North Vietnamese coast. The RAN also contributed a clearance diving team and a helicopter detachment that operated with the US Army from October 1967. In August 1966 a company of 6RAR was engaged in one of Australia's heaviest actions of the war, in a rubber plantation near Long Tan. The 108 soldiers of D Coy held off an enemy force, estimated at over 2000, for four hours in the middle of a tropical downpour. They were greatly assisted by a timely ammunition resupply by RAAF helicopters, close fire support from Australian artillery, and the arrival of reinforcements in APCs as night fell. The armoured vehicles had been delayed because they had to 'swim' across a flooded creek and fight through groups of enemy on the way.

When the Viet Cong withdrew at night fall they left behind 245 dead, but carried away many more casualties. Seventeen Australians were killed and 25 wounded, with one dying of wounds several days later. The year 1968 began with a major offensive by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army, launched during the Vietnamese lunar new year holiday period, known as "Tet". Not only the timing but the scale of the offensive came as a complete surprise, taking in cities, towns, and military installations throughout South Vietnam. While the "Tet Offensive" ultimately ended in military defeat for the communists, it was propaganda victory. US military planners began to question if a decisive victory could ever be achieved and the offensive stimulated US public opposition to the war. For Australian troops, the effects of the offensive were felt around their base at Nui Dat, where a Viet Cong attack on targets around Ba Ria, the provincial capital, was repulsed with few casualties. COL/67/0140/VN A wounded digger, hurt in a booby-trap explosion, is evacuated to Vung Tau.

AWM COL/67/0140/VN By 1969 anti-war protests were gathering momentum in Australia. Opposition to conscription mounted, as more people came to believe the war could not be won. A "Don't register" campaign to dissuade young men from registering for conscription gained increasing support and some of the protests grew violent. The US government began to implement a policy of "Vietnamisation'', the term coined for a gradual withdrawal of US forces that would leave the war in the hands of the South Vietnamese. With the start of the phased withdrawals, the emphasis of the activities of the Australians in Phuoc Tuy province shifted to the provision of training to the South Vietnamese Regional and Popular Forces. At the end of April 1970 US and South Vietnamese troops were ordered to cross the border into Cambodia. While the invasion succeeded in capturing large quantities of North Vietnamese arms, destroying bunkers and sanctuaries, and killing enemy soldiers, it ultimately proved disastrous. By bringing combat into Cambodia, the invasion drove many people to join the underground opposition, the Khmer Rouge, irreparably weakening the Cambodian government.

When the Khmer Rouge came to power in April 1975, it imposed a cruel and repressive regime that killed several million Cambodians and left the country with internal conflict that continues today. The extension of the war into a sovereign state, formally neutral, inflamed anti-war sentiment in the United States and provided the impetus for further anti-war demonstrations in Australia. In the well-known Moratorium marches of 1970 and 1971, more than 200,000 people gathered to protest against the war, in cities and towns throughout the country. P01404.028 Phuoc Tuy province, South Vietnam, November 1966: 6RAR soldiers follow an armoured personnel carrier (APC) during Operation Ingham, a "search and destroy" mission. AWM P01404.028 By late 1970 Australia had also begun to wind down its military effort in Vietnam. The 8th Battalion departed in November (and was not replaced), but, to make up for the decrease in troop numbers, the Team's strength was increased and its efforts became concentrated in Phuoc Tuy province.

The withdrawal of troops and all air units continued throughout 1971 – the last battalion left Nui Dat on 7 November, while a handful of advisers belonging to the Team remained in Vietnam the following year. In December 1972 they became the last Australian troops to come home, with their unit having seen continuous service in South Vietnam for ten and a half years. Australia's participation in the war was formally declared at an end when the Governor-General issued a proclamation on 11 January 1973. The only combat troops remaining in Vietnam were a platoon guarding the Australian embassy in Saigon (this was withdrawn in June 1973). CUN/66/0161/VN Vietnam, 1966: Australians patrol near the village of Tan Phu, near Bien Hoa Air Base. AWM CUN/66/0161/VN In early 1975 the communists launched a major offensive in the north of South Vietnam, resulting in the fall of Saigon on 30 April.

During April a RAAF detachment of 7–8 Hercules transports flew humanitarian missions to aid civilian refugees displaced by the fighting and carried out the evacuation of Vietnamese orphans (Operation Babylift), before finally taking out embassy staff on 25 April. From the time of the arrival of the first members of the Team in 1962 almost 60,000 Australians, including ground troops and air force and navy personnel, served in Vietnam; 521 died as a result of the war and over 3,000 were wounded. The war was the cause of the greatest social and political dissent in Australia since the conscription referendums of the First World War. Many draft resisters, conscientious objectors, and protesters were fined or gaoled, while some soldiers met a hostile reception on their return home. Sources and further reading: Chris Coulthard-Clark, The RAAF in Vietnam: Australian air involvement in the Vietnam War 1962–1975, The Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975, vol.

4 (Sydney: Allen & Unwin in association with the Australian War Memorial, 1995) Peter Dennis et al., The Oxford companion to Australian military history (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 2008) Peter Edwards, A nation at war: Australian politics, society, and diplomacy during the Vietnam War 1965–1975, The Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975, vol. 6 (Sydney: Allen & Unwin in association with the Australian War Memorial, 1997) Jeffrey Grey, Up top: the Royal Australian Navy in Southeast Asian Conflicts, 1955–1972, The Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975, vol.

7 (Sydney: Allen & Unwin in association with the Australian War Memorial, 1998) Ian McNeill, To Long Tan: the Australian Army and the Vietnam War 1950–1966, The Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975, vol. 2 (Sydney: Allen & Unwin in association with the Australian War Memorial, 1993) Ian McNeill and Ashley Ekins, On the offensive: the Australian Army in the Vietnam War 1967–1968, The Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948–1975, vol. 8 (Sydney: Allen & Unwin in association with the Australian War Memorial, 2003) J. Rowe, Vietnam: the Australian experience (Sydney: Time–Life Books Australia and John Ferguson, 1987) Essays, articles, and talks What Everyone Should Know About the Vietnam War What Everyone Should Know About the Vietnam War Sign Up for Our Free Newsletters Thanks, You're in!

Health Tip of the Day Recipe of the Day There was an error. Please try again. Please select a newsletter. Please enter a valid email address. Did you mean ? Updated February 27, 2016. What Was the Vietnam War? The Vietnam War was the prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the United States (with the aid of the South Vietnamese) attempting to prevent the spread of communism. Engaged in a war that many viewed as having no way to win, U.S. leaders lost the American public's support for the war. Since the end of the war, the Vietnam War has become a benchmark for what not to do in all future U.S. foreign conflicts. Dates of the Vietnam War: 1959 -- April 30, 1975 Also Known As: American War in Vietnam, Vietnam Conflict, Second Indochina War, War Against the Americans to Save the Nation Ho Chi Minh Comes Home There had been fighting in Vietnam for decades before the Vietnam War began. The Vietnamese had suffered under French colonial rule for nearly six decades when Japan invaded portions of Vietnam in 1940.

continue reading below our video Overview of the Vietnam War It was in 1941, when Vietnam had two foreign powers occupying them, that communist Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh arrived back in Vietnam after spending 30 years traveling the world. Once Ho was back in Vietnam, he established a headquarters in a cave in northern Vietnam and established the Viet Minh , whose goal was to rid Vietnam of the French and Japanese occupiers. Having gained support for their cause in northern Vietnam, the Viet Minh announced the establishment of an independent Vietnam with a new government called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945. The French, however, were not willing to give up their colony so easily and fought back. For years, Ho had tried to court the United States to support him against the French, including supplying the U.S. with military intelligence about the Japanese during World War II . Despite this aid, the United States was fully dedicated to their Cold War foreign policy of containment, which meant preventing the spread of Communism. This fear of the spread of Communism was heightened by the U.S. " domino theory ," which stated that if one country in Southeast Asia fell to Communism then surrounding countries would also soon fall.

To help prevent Vietnam from becoming a communist country, the U.S. decided to help France defeat Ho and his revolutionaries by sending the French military aid in 1950. France Steps Out, U.S. Steps In In 1954, after suffering a decisive defeat at Dien Bien Phu , the French decided to pull out of Vietnam. At the Geneva Conference of 1954, a number of nations met to determine how the French could peacefully withdraw. The agreement that came out of the conference (called the Geneva Accords ) stipulated a cease fire for the peaceful withdrawal of French forces and the temporary division of Vietnam along the 17th parallel (which split the country into communist North Vietnam and non-communist South Vietnam). In addition, a general democratic election was to be held in 1956 that would reunite the country under one government. The United States refused to agree to the election, fearing the communists might win. With help from the United States, South Vietnam carried out the election only in South Vietnam rather than countrywide. After eliminating most of his rivals, Ngo Dinh Diem was elected.

His leadership, however, proved so horrible that he was killed in 1963 during a coup supported by the United States. Since Diem had alienated many South Vietnamese during his tenure, communist sympathizers in South Vietnam established the National Liberation Front (NLF), also known as the Viet Cong , in 1960 to use guerrilla warfare against the South Vietnamese. First U.S. Ground Troops Sent to Vietnam As the fighting between the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese continued, the U.S. continued to send additional advisers to South Vietnam. When the North Vietnamese fired directly upon two U.S. ships in international waters on August 2 and 4, 1964 (known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident ), Congress responded with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This resolution gave the President the authority to escalate U.S. involvement in Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson used that authority to order the first U.S. ground troops to Vietnam in March 1965. Johnson's Plan for Success President Johnson's goal for U.S. involvement in Vietnam was not for the U.S. to win the war, but for U.S. troops to bolster South Vietnam's defenses until South Vietnam could take over.

By entering the Vietnam War without a goal to win, Johnson set the stage for future public and troop disappointment when the U.S. found themselves in a stalemate with the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong. From 1965 to 1969, the U.S. was involved in a limited war in Vietnam. Although there were aerial bombings of the North, President Johnson wanted the fighting to be limited to South Vietnam. By limiting the fighting parameters, the U.S. forces would not conduct a serious ground assault into the North to attack the communists directly nor would there be any strong effort to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail (the Viet Cong's supply path that ran through Laos and Cambodia). Life in the Jungle U.S. troops fought a jungle war, mostly against the well-supplied Viet Cong. The Viet Cong would attack in ambushes, set up booby traps, and escape through a complex network of underground tunnels. For U.S. forces, even just finding their enemy proved difficult. Since Viet Cong hid in the dense brush, U.S. forces would drop Agent Orange or napalm bombs , which cleared an area by causing the leaves to drop off or to burn away. In every village, U.S.

troops had difficulty determining which, if any, villagers were the enemy since even women and children could build booby traps or help house and feed the Viet Cong. U.S. soldiers commonly became frustrated with the fighting conditions in Vietnam. Many suffered from low morale, became angry, and some used drugs. Surprise Attack - The Tet Offensive On January 30, 1968, the North Vietnamese surprised both the U.S. forces and the South Vietnamese by orchestrating a coordinated assault with the Viet Cong to attack about a hundred South Vietnamese cities and towns. Although the U.S. forces and the South Vietnamese army were able to repel the assault known as the Tet Offensive , this attack proved to Americans that the enemy was stronger and better organized than they had been led to believe. The Tet Offensive was a turning point in the war because President Johnson, faced now with an unhappy American public and bad news from his military leaders in Vietnam, decided to no longer escalate the war. Nixon's Plan for "Peace With Honor" In 1969, Richard Nixon became the new U.S. President and he had his own plan to end U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

President Nixon outlined a plan called Vietnamization, which was a process to remove U.S. troops from Vietnam while handing back the fighting to the South Vietnamese. The withdrawal of U.S. troops began in July 1969. To bring a faster end to hostilities, President Nixon also expanded the war into other countries, such as Laos and Cambodia -- a move that created thousands of protests, especially on college campuses, back in America. To work toward peace, new peace talks began in Paris on January 25, 1969. When the U.S. had withdrawn most of its troops from Vietnam, the North Vietnamese staged another massive assault, called the Easter Offensive (also called the Spring Offensive), on March 30, 1972. North Vietnamese troops crossed over the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at the 17th parallel and invaded South Vietnam. The remaining U.S. forces and the South Vietnamese army fought back. The Paris Peace Accords On January 27, 1973, the peace talks in Paris finally succeeded in producing a cease-fire agreement. The last U.S.

troops left Vietnam on March 29, 1973, knowing they were leaving a weak South Vietnam who would not be able to withstand another major communist North Vietnam attack. Reunification of Vietnam After the U.S. had withdrawn all its troops, the fighting continued in Vietnam. In early 1975, North Vietnam made another big push south which toppled the South Vietnamese government. South Vietnam officially surrendered to communist North Vietnam on April 30, 1975. On July 2, 1976, Vietnam was reunited as a communist country , the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Prev

Question: In what year were US ground troops first dispatched to Vietnam?
Answer: 1965